State Farm Fire & Casualty Company v. Broan-NuTone LLC et al, No. 2:2008cv00876 - Document 14 (W.D. Wash. 2009)
Court Description: ORDER granting 13 Stipulated Motion to Amend Case Schedule and Trial Date; Jury Trial is set for 9/28/2009 at 09:00 AM before Judge Marsha J. Pechman. Discovery completed by 6/1/2009, Dispositive motions due by 6/24/2009, Motions in Limine due by 8/31/2009, Agreed Pretrial Order due by 9/2/2009, Trial briefs to be submitted by 9/23/2009, Proposed voir dire/jury instructions due by 9/23/2009, by Judge Marsha J. Pechman.(VP)
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State Farm Fire & Casualty Company v. Broan-NuTone LLC et al 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Doc. 14 THE HONORABLE MARSHA J. PECHMAN UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE STATE FARM FIRE & CASUALTY, as subrogee for Sandra J. Slisco, Plaintiff, No. 08-CV-876 (MJP) STIPULATION TO AMEND CASE SCHEDULE AND TRIAL DATE AND ORDER THEREON v. BROAN-NUTONE, LLC, a foreign limited liability company and NUTONE, INC., a foreign corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of BROAN-NUTONE, LLC, NOTE FOR MOTION CALENDAR: MARCH 23, 2009 Defendants. COMES NOW, the plaintiff State Farm Fire & Casualty (“State Farm”) and defendant Broan-NuTone, LLC (“Broan-NuTone”), by and through their attorneys, and hereby stipulate and agree that the outstanding dates forth in the Court’s Order Setting Trial Date & Related Dates, including the trial date, each be postponed approximately 60 days to permit the parties to pursue mediation and settlement and ask the Court to approve this postponement. The parties submit that good cause exists to amend the scheduling order because of complications and delays arising from locating and deposing out-of-state witnesses, because of the complexities of the engineering and expert evidence in the case, and for reasons of efficiency and the conservation of Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 Dockets.Justia.com 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 the parties’ resources that would achieved by permitting mediation prior to additional and costly discovery. This case arises from a residential fire that occurred on June 27, 2005 at the home of Sandra and Erin Slisco, located at 3212 150th Place S.E., Mill Creek, Washington. The property insurer, State Farm, alleges that a Broan-NuTone fan, a Model 689-H ceiling ventilation fan, caused the fire. State Farm filed this subrogation action seeking to recoup $322,564.25 on the basis of design and manufacturing defects in the fan, as well as on failure to warn and warranty grounds. A formal mediation pursuant to the Court’s Order is set for April 6, 2009 before Tom Harris, a mediator from the Washington Arbitration and Mediation Service. The parties have actively engaged in discovery for months, exchanging multiple sets of written discovery and taken depositions of factual witnesses. The parties agree, however, that further discovery, and in particular expert depositions, is necessary and that the current case deadlines and trial date do not allow for completion of that discovery. While the parties had originally sought delay of the discovery cut-off (currently April 1, 2009) and dispositive motion deadline (currently April 22, 2009) only, that proposal was rejected by the Court as not providing sufficient detail of good cause, or sufficient time for the Court’s decision on dispositive motions prior to trial, which is currently set for July 20, 2009. Accordingly, the parties have now stipulated and agreed that a 60-day postponement of the trial date and the other outstanding case deadlines as listed below is supported by good cause, as explained below, and is prudent and necessary to allow discovery and dispositive motions practice, among other things, to be fully developed. Each party has discussed this postponement with its respective clients and each client agrees to the postponement and the reason for the postponement. First, good cause exists for postponement because State Farm’s subrogee, the property owner Sandra Slisco, along with her daughter Erin Slisco—who was the first eyewitness to the fire—have moved out of the State of Washington. Efforts to locate and serve subpoenas at various addresses and cities in Washington over the past months have proved fruitless. Initial Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 attempts to serve the Sliscos at the Mill Creek home were unsuccessful, as the Sliscos had moved out. Similarly, attempts to serve subpoenas at Sandra Slisco’s last-known place of employment in Everett, Washington failed as she no longer worked there. The daughter, Erin Slisco, was then traced to an address in Bellingham, Washington, but repeated efforts to serve her there likewise failed. (Complicating locating and serving Erin is the fact that she apparently may now go by another name, “Aaron”.) Two additional addresses for the Sliscos were obtained in Lynwood, Washington, in January 2009, but once again, attempted service at these locations proved fruitless. The parties recently learned that both individuals are now located in southern California, in Cathedral City. Both State Farm and Broan-NuTone, moreover, wish to depose the individuals prior to the end of discovery. An extension of the case deadlines is necessary to allow for the locating, scheduling, and taking (and perhaps even the compelling) of the depositions of the Sliscos. Second, between the parties there are five different expert witnesses in the case who have submitted four expert reports, plus two rebuttal expert reports. The reports are hundreds of pages and involve complex issues of electrical engineering, metallurgy and combustion science. No depositions of any expert witness has yet occurred, as the parties have focused completing rebuttal expert reports and depositions of factual witnesses, including depositions of four responding fire fighters (that have occurred) and depositions of the homeowner and daughter (that have not occurred due to their transitory nature described above). Finally, there is a formal Court-ordered mediation scheduled for April 6, 2009 before Tom Harris. Given that there exists the potential for a mediated resolution of the case prior to the undertaking of the costs and expenses involved in taking depositions of multiple expert witnesses and traveling out of state to take factual depositions, the parties jointly stipulate and agree that good cause exists to postpone the outstanding case deadlines 60 days to permit the scheduled mediation to proceed. So doing would both be more efficient and better facilitate settlement than if the parties were to expend the significant resources (in terms of legal and Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 experts’ fees, among other things) necessary to conduct the above-described expert and out-ofstate depositions prior to mediating the case. Accordingly, the parties propose the following amended case schedule, which reflects a 60-day postponement of the trial date and other case deadlines and provides the Court more than 12 weeks before trial to decide any dispositive motions: TRIAL DATE: September 28, 2009 at 9:00 am Discovery completed by: June 1, 2009 All dispositive motions must be filed by and noted on the motion calendar no later than the Fourth Friday thereafter: June 24, 2009 Motions in limine filed by and noted on the motion calendar no later than the second Friday thereafter: August 31, 2009 Agreed pre-trial order due: Trial briefs, proposed voir dire questions, proposed jury instructions, and trial exhibits due: September 23, 2009 September 2, 2009 Should the Court accept the above schedule, the parties stipulate and agree to conduct and complete expert depositions and other depositions following the mediation on April 6, 2009, specifically during the third and fourth weeks of April 2009 and during the month May 2009. DATED: March 23, 2009 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 /s/ Craig Evezich Craig Evezich, Esq., WSBA No. 20957 E-Mail:craig@evezich.com Evezich Law Offices, PLLC 600 University Street, Suite 2701 Seattle, WA 98101 Telephone: (206) 576-6900 Facsimile: (206) 624.8241 /s/ Eric S. Lent Eric S. Lent, WSBA No. 38308 ELent@perkinscoie.com Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Telephone: 206.359.8000 Facsimile: 206.359.9000 Attorney for Plaintiff State Farm Fire & Casualty Attorneys for Defendant Broan-NuTone, LLC Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 IT IS SO ORDERED: Dated this 30th day of March, 2009 A Marsha J. Pechman United States District Judge Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE On March 23, 2009, I caused to be served upon counsel of record, at the addresses stated below, via the method of service indicated, a true and correct copy of the foregoing STIPULATION TO AMEND CASE SCHEDULE AND TRIAL DATE AND ORDER THEREON. Attorney for Plaintiff Craig Evezich, Esq. Evezich Law Offices, PLLC 600 University Street, Suite 2701 Seattle, WA 98101 Telephone: (206) 576-6900 Facsimile: (206) 624.8241 E-Mail:craig@evezich.com ; By CM/ECF By U.S. Mail By Messenger I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that the foregoing is true and correct. DATED: March 23, 2009 /s/ Julia D. Wood Julia D. Wood Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Telephone: 206.359.8000 Facsimile: 206.359.9000 E-mail: jdwood@perkinscoie.com Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4800 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000
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